On Becoming a Hermit, Sort of ... Day 56

Day 56
(Monday, 11th May 2020)

A relatively lazy day, although a brisk walk up the lane and across the four fields with the GDP Taz was, as ever, a spirit raiser. B and I had a long FaceTime call with my brother-in-law in the afternoon, for the first time in, well, ever! He in his capacious home in the Deep South of rural France and we in ours, in the not so deep North of semi-rural England. It was a good catch up and we have vowed to do it again.

Boris Johnson’s announcement of a phased and conditional easing of the lockdown status was met with immediate criticism. It was vague and lacked clarity. On the face of the left of the political spectrum, it appears biased towards the ‘middle class’, who can continue to work at home and against those (dare I say ‘working class’ - aren’t nearly all of us?), who can’t, who are now being encouraged to return to work to get the economy going again. On the right of the political spectrum, there are cracks and divisions appearing inside the Conservative party about balancing the need of the economy with then health of the nation. As Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “the single most important thing is that in order to look after the health of the economy, we need to look after the health of our people”; words to that effect.

That, I feel, is a good point at which to conclude today's post at the end of the eighth week of isolation.

Clemency's choice of music for today is as upbeat as you could want for a Monday: Harlem Syphony 3: 'Night Club' by James P. Johnson (1894-1955). James P. Johnson was known as a jazz pioneer. Father of the technique known as 'stride piano' and significant influence on the likes of Fats Waller. George Gershwin and Maurice Ravel would allegedly pop to Harlem to hear pianists like Johnson and would clearly learn from him. Sadly, despite that fact that he wrote sixteen musicals, more than two hundred songs, a symphony, a piano concerto, two tone poems and an opera, Johnson received little recognition from the classical world, at least until recently. I could prefer a reason fro this, but I'll leave that to the reader's own conclusion. 


However you may be affected by anything I've written here, do let me know by leaving a comment below or, if you prefer not to, talk to a loved one, a friend or someone you trust.